1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image projection apparatus for projecting light modulated by a one-dimensional spatial light modulating element in accordance with image information and displaying an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
To provide a sense of presence to viewers, displays need to have a high resolution, a wide color range, a wide field of view, and a high frame rate. In general, when a wide field of view is achieved using one projector, light is projected onto a very large screen or a curved screen using a two-dimensional spatial light modulating element, such as a liquid crystal panel or a digital micromirror device (DMD) However, in such a case, the quality of an image displayed at the end of the screen, in particular, at the four corners of the screen deteriorates, and therefore, the excellent image quality and the wide field of view cannot be provided at the same time.
In contrast, a one-dimensional spatial light modulating element can display a two-dimensional image by using a mechanism of scanning a light beam across the screen in a direction perpendicular to the long axis (length direction) of the spatial light modulating element. A post projection scanning method in which the scanning mechanism is disposed after a projection lens can easily achieve a wide field of view in a relatively narrow projection space. In addition, when a projection image surface is a cylindrical screen, the image quality does not deteriorate at the four corners of the screen. Therefore, a wide field of view can be advantageously achieved without degrading the image quality (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-207730).